The Newport Beach City Council will decide Tuesday whether to award a contract of $5,720,500 to replace a cover for the Big Canyon Reservoir, according to the meeting’s online agenda.

The new cover would replace a cover installed in 2005 that was supposed to last for 20 years but instead was degrading after just five years, according to a staff report. The city filed a complaint against that contractor and subcontractors, and that litigation is ongoing, the report states.

The Big Canyon Reservoir, located off Pacific View Drive, is a 600-acre foot, or 200 million gallon, potable water storage reservoir owned by Newport Beach.

“This reservoir at full capacity provides enough water to supply the City with 10 days of average water usage,” the staff report states.

The reservoir was built in the early 1960s, the report states, and is a main delivery point for water imported from the Metropolitan Water District.

“When it was constructed, an open water reservoir was a more typical and acceptable facility,” the report states. “However, as water quality standards have became more stringent over the years, the Department of Health Services (DHS) mandated that the City cover the reservoir or abandon the facility.”

The current floating cover was installed in 2005 to meet the state requirement, the report states. It was supposed to last 20 years, but staff noticed “a significant amount of degradation to the cover” after five years, and in December 2011, the city filed its complaint against the contractor and subcontractors who manufactured and installed the cover, the report states.

Inspectors determined that the cover’s degradation could result in “a failure that may result in taking the reservoir out of service and possibly interfering with normal water system operations” if it isn’t replaced, the report states. The new cover would be made of a different material that should last 30 years, the report said. The project also would add a new baffle curtain that would improve circulation throughout the reservoir, the report states.

The CIty Council will consider awarding the contract for the project at its meeting Tuesday. Other items on the agenda include consideration of a municipal code change that would ban generators that are sometimes used during residential construction projects; read our earlier story here.

The Council also will consider a plan to change parking at the Big Corona State Beach parking lot by adding automated pay stations that would allow for hourly parking; read our story here.

The meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m., is open to the public, and members of the public may make comments. The meeting will be held in Council Chambers at the new Civic Center at 100 Civic Center Drive.

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